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Close Rolls
(1302-1307)The close rolls of the 31st to 35th years of the reign of king Edward I, that is to the day of his death (7 July 1307), record the main artery of government administration in England, the orders sent out day by day to individual officers, especially sheriffs of shires: they are an exceptionally rich source for so early a period. In amongst this official material, the rolls were also used as a way of recording many acknowledgments of private debts and contracts between individuals. Most of the contents relate to England, but there are also entries concerning Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English possessions in France.

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Devon and Cornwall clerks, clerics, monks and clergy
(1370-1382)Ordinations to first tonsure, acolytes, subdeacons, deacons and priests, from the register of bishop Thomas de Brantyngham of Exeter. Exeter diocese covered the counties of Cornwall and Devon. Some of these clerks would go on to obtain benefices and remain celibate. The lists of subdeacons, deacons and priests state the clerks' respective titles, i. e., give the names of the person or religious house undertaking to support them. Monks and friars ('religious') are bracketed separately as such.

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English knights at Agincourt
(1415)At the battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415, English forces under king Henry V inflicted a signal defeat on the French forces led by the Constable D'Albret. The English are said to have numbered about 15,000 men. This list of 'The Names of the Dukes, Erles, Barons, Knights, Esquires, Serviteurs and others that wer withe the Excellent Prince King Henry the Fifte at the Battell of Agincourt' is of the leaders of the English forces and of the knights (lances) in their retinues: of the archers, for which the battle is famous, hardly a handful are named. Nicholas Harris Nicolas, the antiquarian, found this list accidentally among the manuscripts in the British Museum, and published it, with an extensive account of the battle, in 1827.

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Servants of the Scottish crown
(1473-1498)Under the direction of the Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, the earliest Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, under the series Compota Thesauriorum Regum Scotorum, were abridged and published. This first volume, prepared by Thomas Dickson, curator of the Historical Department of the General Register House, was published in 1877. It contains the earliest surving accounts, from 1473 to 1474 in the reign of king James III, and the next, from 1488 to 1489 in the reign of king James IV. These were printed verbatim; but there then follow (page 166 onwards) accounts through to 1498 'considerably curtailed by the omission of unimportant entries'. These accounts are mostly lists of royal expenditure: many purchases of items for the court do not give the name of the merchants from whom they were bought, so the bulk of the personal names in the text are those of intermediaries, messengers, and various servants of the king.

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Tenants, founders and incumbents of Lancashire chantries
(1546-1554)Chantries were established to perform services for the souls of their founders and other faithful dead, including annual obits and anniversaries at which alms were usually distributed. The chantries could be at an existing altar in a parish church, a new altar in a side chapel of an existing church, in a new chapel in the churchyard or some miles from an existing church: few were founded before 1300, and most date from 1450 to 1500. Hospitals were places provided by similar foundations to receive the poor and weak; there were also religious guilds, brotherhoods and fraternities, and colleges (like large chantries at which three or more secular priests lived in common). An Act of Parliament of 1545 gave king Henry VIII the power to dissolve such chantries, chapels, &c., the proceeds to be devoted to the expenses of the wars in France and Scotland. Commissioners were appointed 14 February 1546 to survey the chantries and seize their property, and from 1546 to 1548 the commissioners produced these certificates giving brief details of the establishment and nature of each foundation, with an inventory of valuables and rental of lands. The individuals named in the certificates are thus the founder, the present incumbent, and the tenants whose rents provided the chantry's income. All the surviving certificates for Lancashire were edited by the Reverend F. R. Raines for the Chetham Society, and published from 1862.

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Militia in Bulstone hundred, Somerset
(1569)A muster of the ablemen, gunners, light horsemen, pikemen, archers and billmen available from this hundred, compiled by sir Hugh Paulet, sir Maurice Barkeley, sir Ralph Hopton and John Horner in answer to a royal commission of the 11th year of queen Elizabeth. The returns are arranged by tithing. The hundred consisted of the parishes of Broadway, Buckland St Mary, Cricket Malherbe, Curry Rivell, Drayton, Fivehead, (the market town of) Ilminster, Isle Brewers, Puckington, South Bradon and Swell. (The sample shown is from the return for the borough of Axbridge)

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Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1577-1578)The Privy Council of queen Elizabeth was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters

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Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1590)The Privy Council of queen Elizabeth was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters

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Essex Feet of Fines: Michaelmas 1 James I
(1603)Abstracts of Essex pedes finium - law suits, or pretended suits, putting on record the ownership of land.

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Official Papers
(1651)The State Papers Domestic cover all manner of business relating to Britain, Ireland and the colonies, conducted by the Council of State, as well as other miscellaneous records. These records are from January to October 1651.